Fake Email
Here is information on how to identify fake email (Spoofed).
Your may receive an email with the reply-to line looking something like “some@bank.com” or other service you may have. Be aware that many times an can be forged and although it may look like your bank, it’s actually a hacker trying to get your personal information.
Your should never respond to requests for personal information that may be contained in a fake email. In order to stop spoofing, you should find the real website address of the email in question and send them a copy of the email that your received with the complete header information.
To find the header information, configure your e-mail program to show All Headers (this varies from program to program). The headers we need are well labeled and look something like this:
X-Sender: someone@domain.com
X-Sender-IP: [10.3.6.17]
X-Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2008 18:04:02 +0000 (UTC)
X-Recipient: you@domain.com
X-OUID: 1
Also, when forwarding your message, include the embedded URL if one exists in the message. To provide this information, right-click the URL and choose “Copy Shortcut.” Then paste the URL into the top of your message before you send it.
Many spammers and spoofers use programs that randomly generate fake email addresses, in the hope that some percentage of these randomly-generated addresses will actually exist.
Important Note: If you submitted your credit card number to the faked Web site, you should take steps to protect your information by notifying your credit card company.
If you receive any other spoof messages in the future, please forward the messages to the related company.
1. Most companies will *not* ask you for the following information in an e-mail message:
* Your password
* Your bank account information
* Your credit card information or PIN
* Your social security number
* Your mother’s maiden name or other information to identify you
2. Be on the lookout for poor grammar or typographical errors. Many phishing e-mails are translated from other languages or are sent without being proof-read. As a result, these messages can contain bad grammar or typographical errors.
3. Check the return address–genuine e-mails come from an e-mail address ending in “@[real website.com]”
4. Check the Web site address–genuine Web sites always end with “.[real website]“–that is, “www.[real website].com.” Most companies *never* use a combination such as “security-[real site.com]” or “[real site].com.biz.”
5. If you think your message is from a fake email, go directly to the real Web site. Some phishing e-mails include a link that looks as though it will take you to your account, but it is really a shortened link to a completely different Web site. If you hover your mouse over the link in your e-mail program, you often can see the underlying, false Web address, either as a pop-up or as information in the browser status bar.
6. Do not “unsubscribe”–many spammers use these “unsubscribe” processes to create a list of valid, working e-mail addresses.
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